Latest / Legacy Living with Dr. Gloria Burgess / Leader as Servant with Mary Bess Johnson | Episode #407

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Leader as Servant with Mary Bess Johnson | Episode #407 · Legacy Living with Dr. Gloria Burgess

0:21
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to today's show, Legacy Living, Make Your
0:27
Speaker 1: Life Count. I'm your host, Doctor Gloria Gloria Burgess, international
0:34
Speaker 1: leadership expert and trusted advisor. Welcome to Legacy Living, Make
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Speaker 1: Your Life Count. I'm so delighted that you join me today.
0:48
Speaker 1: I have a very special guest with us today. Her
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Speaker 1: name is Mary Bess Johnson. I hope you will be
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Speaker 1: inspired by our conversation. Mary Bess is joining us today
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Speaker 1: from her home in beautiful upstate South Carolina, where she
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Speaker 1: lives with her husband, Chris. Mary Bess is an amazing
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Speaker 1: person and most importantly, she is an inspiring woman of God.
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Speaker 1: I can't wait for her to share her remarkable journey
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Speaker 1: and story with you. In her own words, Mary Bess
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Speaker 1: is on a journey, a journey of self growth. In
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Speaker 1: twenty sixteen, she gave up retirement to join the John
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Speaker 1: Maxwell team. At that time, her singular thought was all
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Speaker 1: about helping others grow and fulfilling God's purpose for her
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Speaker 1: own life. Now, Mary Bess has been helping individuals and
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Speaker 1: organizations improve for decades, and she is passionate about encouraging
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Speaker 1: and helping new team members on the John Maxwell team. There,
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Speaker 1: she serves as a peer teaching partner and team leader
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Speaker 1: on the President's Advisory Council. She says, this is the
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Speaker 1: perfect way to live out my heart's desire to serve others.
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Speaker 1: Mary Best not only enjoys serving on the John Maxwell team,
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Speaker 1: she also enjoys being an entrepreneur, serving her clients, serving
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Speaker 1: as a community volunteer, and offering humorous wisdom to her grandchildren,
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Speaker 1: all seven of them. Today's topic is living a life
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Speaker 1: of significance. Now that's a topic that is near and
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Speaker 1: dear to my heart and I can't think of a
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Speaker 1: better person, a better leader, a better human being to
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Speaker 1: address this topic than Mary Bess. I met Mary Best
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Speaker 1: several years ago when I was attending the International Maxwell
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Speaker 1: Certification Conference in Orlando, Florida. When I met Mary Best,
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Speaker 1: I just knew there was something very special about her.
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Speaker 1: And when I had an opportunity to have a conversation
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Speaker 1: with her, she spoke so passionately about her life, about
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Speaker 1: her purpose. I mean, she was just glowing. So I
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Speaker 1: can't wait to host this incredible, amazing and lovely human being,
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Speaker 1: my friend, colleague and mentor, Mary Bess Johnson. Now, before
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Speaker 1: I bring her on, I just want to take a
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Speaker 1: moment to connect the dots between today's topic on living
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Speaker 1: a life of significance and legacy living. Now, there are
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Speaker 1: many ways that living a life of significance connects to
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Speaker 1: legacy living, which you'll hear more about later. For now,
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Speaker 1: just let me say that legacy living is a way
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Speaker 1: of being, being, a way of living and moving through
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Speaker 1: the world so that we make the conscious choice to
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Speaker 1: be the difference we want to see in the world.
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Speaker 1: We make that conscious choice right here and right now,
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Speaker 1: not in some distant future way out there.
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Speaker 2: Right.
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Speaker 3: We make that.
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Speaker 1: Conscious choice day in and day out, three sixty five,
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Speaker 1: twenty four seven. Now, I'll say more about that later. Now,
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Speaker 1: let me introduce you to my friend and colleague and mentor,
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Speaker 1: Mary Bess.
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Speaker 4: Hello, Mary Bess, I want to welcome you to my
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Speaker 4: show and thank you so much for agreeing to be
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Speaker 4: a guest.
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Speaker 2: Could you just please say your name and where you're
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Speaker 2: from for us.
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Speaker 5: Yes, my name is Mary Bess Johnson and I live
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Speaker 5: in Pendleton, South Carolina. It's in upstate Carolina.
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Speaker 2: All right, excellent, Thank you and Mary Vess.
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Speaker 4: I know that you have just a lot to share
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Speaker 4: with us today, but I want to begin by asking
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Speaker 4: you what does it mean to live in God's will
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Speaker 4: for your life?
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Speaker 3: For me, it.
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Speaker 5: Means that I that I want to seek God's will
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Speaker 5: for every move that I make and everything that I do,
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Speaker 5: and knowing that I am just living to be the
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Speaker 5: person that He intended me to be for one thing
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Speaker 5: and to always Uh, it's not approval that I seek, No, no,
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Speaker 5: it's not. It's just just just to be just to
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Speaker 5: walk with the Lord and to be in his will.
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Speaker 5: And because his will is perfect and his timing is perfect,
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Speaker 5: and in as long as I am staying in that place,
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Speaker 5: then it keeps the stress out and the strife and
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Speaker 5: and everything that can that can you know, come from
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Speaker 5: that that place of indecision or not knowing. There's so
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Speaker 5: I find so much peace in knowing the Lord and
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Speaker 5: having a personal relationship with Jesus. There's first of all,
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Speaker 5: there's so much peace in that. And then because I
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Speaker 5: want to live in God's will and being God's will,
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Speaker 5: then it's just it's kind of like simple. I think
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Speaker 5: sometimes we complicate it, but for me sometimes it's just
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Speaker 5: like a simple thing. It's just like, hey, mayor Bess,
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Speaker 5: you love the Lord, he loves you.
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Speaker 2: Just walk with him.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, and Mary bes it is simple. It's very simple
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Speaker 4: because we're strong Christians, were very firm in our faith,
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Speaker 4: and you know, sometimes people who are new to the faith,
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Speaker 4: they really don't have a clue about what we're talking about. Yes,
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Speaker 4: so can you just say a little bit more about
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Speaker 4: what God's perfect timing is and being the person that
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Speaker 4: God intended you to be?
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Speaker 5: You know, Glory, I really appreciate that that you mentioned that,
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Speaker 5: because I can remember many years ago if you had
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Speaker 5: said those same words to me, I did wouldn't have
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Speaker 5: a clue as to what you meant, not really, So
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Speaker 5: until I really had started this personal relationship with Jesus,
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Speaker 5: not just knowing about God, not just going to church,
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Speaker 5: not all of that routine like I grew up doing.
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Speaker 5: But when when it really got down to that real
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Speaker 5: relationship and I realized that that God was just such
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Speaker 5: a such a friend to me and that he had
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Speaker 5: my best interests. Of course, you know I was. I'm
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Speaker 5: created in his image. And even that's hard for some
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Speaker 5: folks to understand, especially those who who maybe are new believers,
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Speaker 5: and they're saying, how in the world can I be
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Speaker 5: created in God's image? Well, you know what, because scripture
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Speaker 5: tells us that, and that's how that's that's another part
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Speaker 5: of the simplicity of it. But but for me, when
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Speaker 5: when I have that love relationship that I feel with
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Speaker 5: the Lord, I I just want it's like, well, let's see,
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Speaker 5: I know, it's like parent child relationship. Maybe when the
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Speaker 5: child and wants to please the parent. No, the child
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Speaker 5: loves a parent. The child doesn't even have to think
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Speaker 5: about whether they please the parent or not. I don't
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Speaker 5: have to think about whether I please God or not.
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Speaker 5: I love him, He loves me, and so staying close
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Speaker 5: to him, I'm just so comfortable in knowing that, and
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Speaker 5: then in staying in his will. Typically for me, if
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Speaker 5: I'm getting out of God's will, oh I know it.
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Speaker 5: I mean I'm going to start feeling really uncomfortable. And
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Speaker 5: you know that's just that that Holy Spirit in me
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Speaker 5: speaking to me.
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Speaker 2: Yes.
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Speaker 4: So you know, when you're in God's will because you're
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Speaker 4: walking in joy, you're walking in peace, and when you
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Speaker 4: get out of it, out of his well, you get
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Speaker 4: something inside of you. Yeah, we're beside you. However that
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Speaker 4: shows up for you, the Holy Spirit talking to you.
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Speaker 5: Yeah, Yeah, very uncomfortable. It's just that it's that intuitive,
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Speaker 5: that conviction that that I just know now that has
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Speaker 5: developed over the years too. I mean that was not
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Speaker 5: an instant thing with me, but I think just staying
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Speaker 5: staying in God's word and even you know, music, any
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Speaker 5: kind of praise, any kind of Christian music, from the
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Speaker 5: old hymns that I've been singing all my life to
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Speaker 5: contemporary Christian music, it's all. It all has saturated me
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Speaker 5: through the years with God's word and the goodness and
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Speaker 5: his girl.
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Speaker 2: Amen hallelujah.
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Speaker 4: You know, I often think about where would we be
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Speaker 4: without the Lord, and where would we be without his
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Speaker 4: grace and mercy, And so knowing that you are walking
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Speaker 4: with the Lord and listening and you know that He's
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Speaker 4: ordering your steps is so significant. And we have been
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Speaker 4: in the same organization, the John Maxwell Team, for a
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Speaker 4: number of years.
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Speaker 2: That's how we met.
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Speaker 4: And I'm wondering, Mary Bess, if you could just share
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Speaker 4: a little bit about what living a life of significance
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Speaker 4: means to you.
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Speaker 5: Well, first of all, I've got to tell the listening
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Speaker 5: audience that Gloria was my table host when I attended
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Speaker 5: my very first John Maxwell Team International Certification event, and
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Speaker 5: that was in August of twenty sixteen, and so I
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Speaker 5: met her that day and just absolutely loved her from
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Speaker 5: day one. But the really wonderful thing that has been
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Speaker 5: such a lesson to me is that we were doing
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Speaker 5: our five minute table talk, and my five minutes went over.
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Speaker 5: And so when the buzzer goes off, those of you
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Speaker 5: are listening. When the buzzer goes off, you stop talking. Okay,
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Speaker 5: So I stopped talking, And when everybody around the table
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Speaker 5: finished with their table talk, the first thing Gloria said
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Speaker 5: to me was, now, Mary, Bess, would you like to
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Speaker 5: finish and tell us that last little piece of your story.
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Speaker 5: Oh that meant so much to me, so very much,
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Speaker 5: And that's just been that's a huge lesson to me,
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Speaker 5: and listening and knowing that even with a time frame
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Speaker 5: like that, at a time constraint, that we still have
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Speaker 5: important things that we want to say, and for.
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Speaker 6: Some of us, it just takes us longer to saying, oh,
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Speaker 6: my goodness, but living a life of significance, oh yes, hey,
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Speaker 6: I have as.
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Speaker 5: Long as I can remember my whole life. Just wanted
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Speaker 5: to just feel like I was making a difference and
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Speaker 5: changing the world and this and that, and I kind
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Speaker 5: of used to think of it in such broader terms
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Speaker 5: until I joined the John Maxwell team in twenty sixteen.
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Speaker 5: I came out of retirement. I had had a long,
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Speaker 5: successful Mary Kay Cosmetics career and I had been retired
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Speaker 5: for a number of years and started feeling that nudge.
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Speaker 5: And what the nudge was was God saying, all right,
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Speaker 5: all right, when I'm not done with you yet, you know,
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Speaker 5: it doesn't matter. I'm hired. I've got more I want
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Speaker 5: you to do. And you know, Gloria, that's that is
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Speaker 5: humbling for me to say that. That is not an
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Speaker 5: ego or an eye thing like, oh, I've got so
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Speaker 5: much I could know. No, no, no, not. That is a
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Speaker 5: very humbling thing to know that you have been used
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Speaker 5: in some way or another in the past, that God
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Speaker 5: has used you to influence others. And so when you
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Speaker 5: know that there's still room for that, oh my goodness
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Speaker 5: just stirred within me and I just knew something was like, oh,
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Speaker 5: got to get back out there. So that's when I
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Speaker 5: joined the team. And for me, living a life of
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Speaker 5: significance is not about me. Although I am on the
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Speaker 5: disc personality disc I'm an I personality and a d SO.
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Speaker 5: But it's not about me. It's about the other person.
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Speaker 5: And everywhere I go, I just want to add value
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Speaker 5: to other people. I just want to smile, I want
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Speaker 5: to put a joke. I want to do something that
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Speaker 5: makes that person feel better, makes that person feel important.
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Speaker 5: And it's not that I have to do big, huge
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Speaker 5: things at all. But I know that, I know that,
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Speaker 5: I know that one little ripple can just create an
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Speaker 5: ocean of wave and change. Yes, and that if just
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Speaker 5: one person is influenced by something that I have said
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Speaker 5: or helped them with, oh that's that's that's wonderful. So
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Speaker 5: it's it's just living living life to it's fullest. It
16:02
Speaker 5: doesn't matter my age. Does it matter that you know
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Speaker 5: I'm old disturbed? Not really, No, you're not, But you
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Speaker 5: know it, really that does not matter. All all ages.
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Speaker 5: Children can live a life of significance. Children can have
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Speaker 5: a positive influence.
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Speaker 2: Yes, yes, I really believe that too, very best.
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Speaker 4: And I know that you have added so much value
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Speaker 4: to me personally and so much value to the people
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Speaker 4: in your community. And I'm sure folks that I'm not
16:41
Speaker 4: even aware of. And so I wonder if you could
16:45
Speaker 4: tell us a little bit about your own journey with
16:49
Speaker 4: your self growth maybe with the John Maxwell team or beyond.
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Speaker 2: And talk a little bit about your career journey as well.
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Speaker 5: Yeah, the the self growth, really intentional self growth started gosh,
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Speaker 5: you know, in the seventies, eighties, and I guess well,
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Speaker 5: really probably more into the eighties when I read Stephen
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Speaker 5: Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. That was one
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Speaker 5: of the first things that really got got me going
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Speaker 5: on self growth and thinking into other areas like that.
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Speaker 5: I tell you, I've always kind of been been a
17:35
Speaker 5: deep thinker. I remember even as a as a teenager,
17:39
Speaker 5: you know, really just getting to thinking about all sorts
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Speaker 5: of things that some people didn't have a clue to
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Speaker 5: what I was talking about, but I could really get
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Speaker 5: into some some thoughts. And I still I still am
17:54
Speaker 5: very much a deep thinker. I'm also very curious. So
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Speaker 5: when when I was in my Mary Kay career, is
18:03
Speaker 5: when John Maxwell first came in alone he was doing
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Speaker 5: leadership training for us with Mary Kay. Is when he
18:13
Speaker 5: was still at his church in San Diego, when he
18:16
Speaker 5: was still pastoring there back in the nineties, and I
18:23
Speaker 5: became very interested in everything he said. I joined the
18:27
Speaker 5: Tape of the Month club, you know, and I've got
18:29
Speaker 5: a blucket load of cassette tapes, but just really, really
18:37
Speaker 5: really loved him, and I used his leadership lessons every
18:42
Speaker 5: month that my sale I've had a sales meeting every
18:46
Speaker 5: single week for the Mary Kay Consultants, and once a
18:49
Speaker 5: month we had leadership night, and so I would have
18:53
Speaker 5: a leadership lesson. And mind you now, this is back
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Speaker 5: in the late nineties, two thousand and I would present
19:05
Speaker 5: that leadership lesson in the my team would would participate
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Speaker 5: in it. And then the actual John Maxwell team was
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Speaker 5: started ten years ago in twenty eleven. So back in
19:21
Speaker 5: the day when I was following John, I didn't you know,
19:26
Speaker 5: there was no such thing as being certified. But I
19:30
Speaker 5: remember thinking it's so funny. You know, here I am
19:33
Speaker 5: in South Carolina. He's on the West coast in San Diego.
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Speaker 5: And I can distinctly remember thinking, oh, I would love
19:44
Speaker 5: to work with John Maxwell, wow or for him, or
19:49
Speaker 5: you know. Then I said, but Mary Bess, you know
19:52
Speaker 5: he's on the West coast and you live in South
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Speaker 5: Carolina and you're you're not you know, you're not twenty
19:57
Speaker 5: five and just charting off on a new job. So
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Speaker 5: but that seed was planted Gloria. Absolutely, And so then
20:09
Speaker 5: the years went by, and in twenty sixteen I looked
20:14
Speaker 5: more into joining the team and so that that's when
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Speaker 5: I decided to become certified and absolutely have just adored it.
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Speaker 4: Well, it seems like you have been around a lot
20:26
Speaker 4: longer than four years, five years, four and a half years, whatever.
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Speaker 5: That is, five yeah, five in May.
20:32
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I mean it seems like you are just
20:35
Speaker 4: one of the founding people and you know, no.
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Speaker 7: Really yeah, yeah, you you add such value, like I said,
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Speaker 7: not only to me, but to so many other people
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Speaker 7: on the team, Mary Bess, you are just a giver.
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Speaker 5: Well, thank you. And you know, it's funny when you
20:53
Speaker 5: say that, because I really hadn't thought about it. But
20:56
Speaker 5: it could be that because John Maxwell and his teachings
21:03
Speaker 5: and books, readings, everything have been such a big part
21:06
Speaker 5: of my life that when I transitioned into the being
21:12
Speaker 5: a team member, that I just brought a lot of
21:15
Speaker 5: that with me. I mean, because really, even when you
21:19
Speaker 5: think about I've talked to Mark Cole about it before,
21:22
Speaker 5: and you know, he's been with John for twenty years
21:26
Speaker 5: something and he remembers those days that he and John
21:31
Speaker 5: would go to the Mary Kay training, so he was
21:34
Speaker 5: going with him then, so he remembers all of that.
21:37
Speaker 5: I don't know, maybe if that didn't, I just felt
21:41
Speaker 5: so at home, so very much at home.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, well, you know, I remember when I joined,
21:52
Speaker 4: I'm one of the founding partners that you know, and
21:55
Speaker 4: it just felt like I found my people like mind
22:00
Speaker 4: at people but totally different than me, and I brought
22:05
Speaker 4: a lot of things along from my.
22:07
Speaker 2: Early exposure to John Maxwell as well. So maybe that's it.
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Speaker 5: I don't know, yeah, but I but I so appreciate
22:16
Speaker 5: you saying that, you know, I I'll always be one
22:21
Speaker 5: who will, you know, raise my hand and say, you know,
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Speaker 5: send me, I'll go, I'll do or whatever. I'd love
22:27
Speaker 5: to help. But I always want my humility. I want
22:31
Speaker 5: to be humble about it. Always that I have the
22:35
Speaker 5: confidence to raise my hand and say send me, I'll go.
22:38
Speaker 5: I'll try, And I do want to, but I do
22:42
Speaker 5: want to do it in a humble way. So I
22:45
Speaker 5: certainly wouldn't want to be you know, I wouldn't want
22:49
Speaker 5: it to be perceived as oh, you know, you're just
22:51
Speaker 5: busting in and trying to be part of the No.
22:54
Speaker 5: I just I'm just feeling home. Well, thank you for saying.
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Speaker 2: That, though, Oh, yes, You're so welcome.
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Speaker 4: So Mary Best, I know that sometimes many people start
23:04
Speaker 4: the year with a particular word that influences them, that
23:09
Speaker 4: guides them, that grounds them in whatever way.
23:12
Speaker 2: And I'm wondering, do you have a word for your year?
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Speaker 5: Oh, I'm so glad you asked. Actually, I chose this
23:22
Speaker 5: word for twenty twenty. And it was towards the end
23:27
Speaker 5: of twenty nineteen that I was thinking on it. And
23:32
Speaker 5: I think I was on a call with Mark Cole
23:34
Speaker 5: one day actually, and he was talking about it too.
23:36
Speaker 5: So I really, for the last two or three years,
23:42
Speaker 5: I've had this sense of urgency about wanting to really
23:48
Speaker 5: really want to live a life of significance and to
23:51
Speaker 5: just do whatever I could. I'm sure that age has
23:56
Speaker 5: something to do with it, for Heaven's sake, you know,
23:59
Speaker 5: but never the less, I've had that sense of urgency.
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Speaker 2: So I was.
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Speaker 5: I was sitting there the day thinking through it that
24:06
Speaker 5: that day and I wrote down the word now, hm.
24:13
Speaker 5: And you know, commonly, like with with Nike or whoever
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Speaker 5: it is, you know, do it now, But it it
24:21
Speaker 5: wasn't quite that for me, and I kept looking at
24:23
Speaker 5: it or had written it out in ow and I
24:26
Speaker 5: looked at it and I went, oh, my goodness, not
24:31
Speaker 5: over with.
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Speaker 2: M hmm mercy.
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Speaker 5: Yeah, And I I felt this confirmation and this peace
24:48
Speaker 5: of that is exactly what I had been feeling. It's
24:55
Speaker 5: not over with, and it had That word has motivated me.
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Speaker 5: So so it's my word for this year too as well.
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Speaker 5: So what it really means to me is exactly what
25:12
Speaker 5: it says here. Here we go back to simplicity. I
25:16
Speaker 5: just love to see things simply and to not complicate things.
25:21
Speaker 5: And so now to me that means not over with.
25:25
Speaker 5: It's it's not over with. That's basically right it. And
25:31
Speaker 5: so you say, what's not over with? Well, the fact
25:35
Speaker 5: that I want to live a life of significance that's
25:39
Speaker 5: not over with, m or whatever I'm wanting to achieve. Uh,
25:46
Speaker 5: it's not over with. So really I can apply that
25:50
Speaker 5: to to anything. It gives. It gives me a sense
25:54
Speaker 5: of like another moment, another chance, And it could be
26:01
Speaker 5: literally that I you know, I died a night and
26:04
Speaker 5: so but even still I want to live up until
26:07
Speaker 5: I take my last breath with that feeling of it's
26:11
Speaker 5: not over with, and it's you know, it's it's not
26:16
Speaker 5: a driven thing at all. It's not like I strive
26:22
Speaker 5: for this. It's just it's just how I feel. But
26:28
Speaker 5: I had not quite been able to put my my
26:33
Speaker 5: finger on what all what all I've been chewing on
26:36
Speaker 5: for the last two or three years. But but you know,
26:40
Speaker 5: the Lord just gave me that word. And then when
26:43
Speaker 5: I when I looked not over with, I went, that
26:45
Speaker 5: is exactly That's exactly how I feel. So I just
26:50
Speaker 5: believe that we all can have that attitude, whether we
26:54
Speaker 5: choose to or not. It helps me.
27:00
Speaker 4: Yes, And so you you talked about significance, you talked
27:03
Speaker 4: about the urgency to live your life, and you also
27:08
Speaker 4: talked about humility. And I'm wondering, so not over with
27:12
Speaker 4: to me says that God has his hand on you,
27:16
Speaker 4: that he has more for you. And in my way
27:20
Speaker 4: of thinking, you know, it's not your business to know
27:23
Speaker 4: what that is.
27:25
Speaker 2: You know, just just pay attention and walk and walk. Yes,
27:29
Speaker 2: He'll He'll keep ordering yourself.
27:31
Speaker 5: Right. I often think of it with with your your John,
27:37
Speaker 5: your sweet husband, as a as a maestro conductor. I
27:42
Speaker 5: just every time I think about God ordering my steps,
27:46
Speaker 5: I see him well, even sometimes in the black tux
27:53
Speaker 5: orchestrating our steps.
27:55
Speaker 4: Yes, oh my, I'll never think of God the same way.
27:59
Speaker 2: I know.
28:00
Speaker 5: I know, what can you imagine?
28:04
Speaker 6: Oh gosh, but I do, I really do.
28:09
Speaker 5: I couldn't tell you how many times I thought, you know,
28:11
Speaker 5: when I think about God orchestrating our steps, and I
28:14
Speaker 5: think about your John. So I really do believe that.
28:19
Speaker 5: Of course, as the years go by, I can look
28:23
Speaker 5: back now and see, Oh my goodness, how things unfolded.
28:28
Speaker 5: You know, it's turned into this, and then this happened,
28:30
Speaker 5: and this happened, and that. An encouragement from me on
28:37
Speaker 5: that to listeners would be just to trust and like
28:41
Speaker 5: Gloria just said, take that one foot in front of
28:45
Speaker 5: the other and keep stepping forward. As you step forward,
28:53
Speaker 5: when you take enough steps, you're going to be able
28:55
Speaker 5: to look back and see how things are unfolding.
29:00
Speaker 4: Absolutely, And I know when I'm in the middle of
29:03
Speaker 4: something it sometimes doesn't make sense, but when I look back,
29:06
Speaker 4: it looks like a straight line.
29:08
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, yes, exactly.
29:12
Speaker 4: So Mary Bes, can you talk to us a little
29:14
Speaker 4: bit about you know, I just know, just a teemy
29:17
Speaker 4: little bit of the kinds of things that you're doing
29:19
Speaker 4: in your community and how you're helping women, and can
29:24
Speaker 4: you just talk to us a little bit about that
29:26
Speaker 4: as well? As I see you as a very I'm
29:29
Speaker 4: going to say creative and generative person. If you could
29:34
Speaker 4: talk to us a little bit about your creativity, your interests,
29:37
Speaker 4: and again how that's.
29:38
Speaker 2: Flowing out of you and into the community as well.
29:42
Speaker 5: Oh my goodness. Well, I've always been very, as I
29:45
Speaker 5: said earlier, very curious. I love to learn new things.
29:50
Speaker 5: I love to try new things. I am pretty much
29:54
Speaker 5: a risk taker with something. So you know, when I
29:58
Speaker 5: was sixty nine years old, I did a tandem jump
30:02
Speaker 5: skydive and I loved it and that was so and
30:06
Speaker 5: I wouldn't Yeah, I would not mind doing it again
30:09
Speaker 5: at all. But so I'm interested in things like that.
30:14
Speaker 5: I am very creative. I'm creative as far as stitching
30:19
Speaker 5: and anything like that, or I'm resourceful. I can think
30:24
Speaker 5: of odd ways to fix something maybe you know, to
30:30
Speaker 5: make it do or whatever. And as far as in
30:35
Speaker 5: the community here, I will know one thing that I
30:37
Speaker 5: did that's interesting to me that I have been involved
30:42
Speaker 5: in the past. I am not right here in this community.
30:45
Speaker 5: We've moved here four years ago, but for a number
30:48
Speaker 5: of years where I lived before, I was involved in
30:51
Speaker 5: a quilt program at our church, Prayers for squares for
30:57
Speaker 5: squares for prayer. I can't remember which way, but we
31:00
Speaker 5: we would make quilts and just lap quilts and give
31:05
Speaker 5: those two folks who were really going through a hard time.
31:09
Speaker 5: And so that program was very meaningful to me. And
31:15
Speaker 5: because I did know how to sew and stitch and
31:19
Speaker 5: all that, I could do that kind of thing. But
31:21
Speaker 5: even when I when I don't know, I'll take a
31:25
Speaker 5: stab at it to learn. You know, I'm always want
31:28
Speaker 5: to say, hey, I don't know, but I'll find out,
31:31
Speaker 5: or I don't know how to do that, but I'll
31:32
Speaker 5: figure it out.
31:33
Speaker 4: Anybody taking a tandem jump at sixty nine is willing
31:36
Speaker 4: to learn.
31:37
Speaker 2: I'm just saying, you think.
31:42
Speaker 5: I know, it isn't the truth. To me, that just
31:46
Speaker 5: seems like you know, okay, well everybody does that, but
31:48
Speaker 5: I guess not really.
31:49
Speaker 2: It's not everybody.
31:53
Speaker 5: Oh my goodness. So I'm always just I look for
31:58
Speaker 5: ways of doing something really in a fun way to
32:02
Speaker 5: I do. I love to laugh and I love to
32:05
Speaker 5: have fun. As far as what I'm doing here in
32:08
Speaker 5: the community with women, for one thing is I'm involved
32:14
Speaker 5: with a really beautiful nonprofit organization here who offers a
32:22
Speaker 5: hand up and not a handout. And so their clients
32:28
Speaker 5: who come to them have the opportunity to take classes
32:33
Speaker 5: at their center, which are all volunteers. So they can
32:37
Speaker 5: take classes in money management, anger management, diet, nutrition, parenting,
32:46
Speaker 5: basic skills, real anything, just anything. And when they take
32:53
Speaker 5: the course, the class and show up and do it,
32:57
Speaker 5: they can earn dream dollars and then they can take
33:01
Speaker 5: those dream dollars and they go to one of the
33:05
Speaker 5: resell stores you know, it'd be like habitats resell that
33:10
Speaker 5: sort of situation, and they can purchase goods because most
33:16
Speaker 5: of these people are very very low income. And also
33:20
Speaker 5: one thing that was really so much fun at Christmas,
33:22
Speaker 5: they have this huge Santa Shop program. So all year
33:27
Speaker 5: long businesses all of the area donate Christmas s gipts,
33:32
Speaker 5: brand new toys and things for the Santa Shop. It's
33:36
Speaker 5: really a very large amount of stuff, and so the
33:42
Speaker 5: people can go shop in the Santa Shop when they
33:47
Speaker 5: earn the dream dollars. They got to earn them, yeah,
33:51
Speaker 5: not cool, and then what they do is they provide
33:55
Speaker 5: them ways to earn. So I've been doing classes ZIM
34:00
Speaker 5: classes with them now since about October, and we still
34:07
Speaker 5: have one going right now. But I love to do that,
34:11
Speaker 5: and you know, it's just it's volunteer, absolutely volunteer. Now
34:15
Speaker 5: I do have a financial relationship with them too, because
34:19
Speaker 5: I've done a lot of their leadership training and within
34:23
Speaker 5: their staff. It's a pretty large organization, but that that's
34:28
Speaker 5: how I serve here. I'm involved in our church, love that,
34:34
Speaker 5: and in the community here. I'm a board member of
34:37
Speaker 5: the Pendleton Historical Society Foundation. It's been around a lot
34:43
Speaker 5: of history here where I live, and I'm excited about
34:49
Speaker 5: to get it. Involved with a program at Colemson University
34:53
Speaker 5: which is right here at Professor Thomas. Ronda Thomas has
34:59
Speaker 5: started a number of years back, slowly but surely she's
35:02
Speaker 5: making headway on it, and it's called the name of
35:07
Speaker 5: the program is called my Name. She has learned when
35:13
Speaker 5: she came to Clemson to be a professor that many
35:18
Speaker 5: back in the late eighteen hundreds, most of the people
35:22
Speaker 5: who built Clemson University were African Americans who were the
35:27
Speaker 5: children of slaves or they were in prison and they
35:31
Speaker 5: were allowed to help build and so many many of
35:37
Speaker 5: them have been when they died, they were buried here
35:41
Speaker 5: and she has been discovering their grave sites. So she
35:48
Speaker 5: absolutely has a full blown program going down. It actually
35:52
Speaker 5: is hiring someone to head it up. And I am
35:58
Speaker 5: on the tap to a volunteer in the program. So
36:03
Speaker 5: that's something else is really near and dear to my
36:06
Speaker 5: heart right here in the back door.
36:08
Speaker 2: Yes.
36:09
Speaker 5: And then my husband, Oh my goodness, oh I love,
36:14
Speaker 5: Oh my goodness, my husband. Yeah. And we have seven
36:17
Speaker 5: grandchildren with three daughters and seven grandchildren.
36:20
Speaker 4: Mm hmm.
36:21
Speaker 2: Mercy, Well, you know you I want to be like
36:23
Speaker 2: you when I grew up.
36:27
Speaker 4: I mean you are so involved and so engaged and
36:31
Speaker 4: you find places you know, not only that's a right
36:34
Speaker 4: fit for you, I mean God places you there, but
36:38
Speaker 4: you also find a way to pour just to pour
36:42
Speaker 4: blessings into into so many people. And you know, the
36:46
Speaker 4: people that we impact, like right in front of us,
36:49
Speaker 4: they're gonna share and they're gonna share and they're gonna.
36:51
Speaker 2: Share it and it just keeps on rippling out. So
36:54
Speaker 2: I mean, your your footprint, your fingerprint, your impress is
36:58
Speaker 2: just remarkable, very best.
37:02
Speaker 5: You know, glory. One time, many many years ago, I
37:07
Speaker 5: heard in a message one day the person said something
37:13
Speaker 5: like I don't want I don't want to stand before
37:16
Speaker 5: God when I die. I don't want to stand before
37:18
Speaker 5: God and hear the words, oh, welcome home, my child,
37:27
Speaker 5: good and faithful servant. Oh, but I had so much.
37:30
Speaker 4: More I wanted you to do.
37:35
Speaker 5: Yeah, and you know that's almost got of like negative motivation,
37:41
Speaker 5: but not really, not really, because that hit home with me. Yeah,
37:49
Speaker 5: I do have We do have responsibility on this earth. Yes,
37:56
Speaker 5: we do, not only responsibility for ourselves and our families,
38:02
Speaker 5: but to serve others.
38:05
Speaker 7: Yes.
38:07
Speaker 2: So I have a question for you.
38:09
Speaker 4: I know you've talked a lot about the work that
38:11
Speaker 4: you have done on your intentional growth and your career
38:14
Speaker 4: with Mary Kay. Were you ever a teacher in your
38:17
Speaker 4: life but beyond like teaching your kids, which is a
38:20
Speaker 4: huge responsibility.
38:22
Speaker 2: Yeah.
38:23
Speaker 5: I mean, that's interesting that you asked me that. And
38:26
Speaker 5: it's really strange because yesterday I was thinking something made
38:34
Speaker 5: me think about I remember years ago when people would
38:40
Speaker 5: say to me, now, are you a school teacher? And
38:44
Speaker 5: I would say no, because I was in the corporate
38:47
Speaker 5: I was working in the corporate world when I'm joined
38:49
Speaker 5: Mary Kay in nineteen ninety one. I mean, yeah, I
38:54
Speaker 5: was doing that and had been in that area for many,
38:58
Speaker 5: many years, and really just joined mary Kay to and
39:05
Speaker 5: relieve some stress on my job and just have some
39:09
Speaker 5: fun and make a little extra money. Hey, that was fun.
39:13
Speaker 5: And so that was back in nineteen ninety one, and
39:15
Speaker 5: I quit my job a year and a half later
39:18
Speaker 5: to pursue Mary Kay full time. So it did turn
39:21
Speaker 5: into a full time career for me. But that's funny
39:23
Speaker 5: that you ask about teaching. I don't know what it is,
39:28
Speaker 5: but I do like I do like to teach. I mean, yeah,
39:34
Speaker 5: I mean, and that's that's one of the things I
39:37
Speaker 5: like about training in leadership. Yeah, is the teaching part
39:42
Speaker 5: of it?
39:44
Speaker 4: Well, you're very good at it, And so maybe the
39:47
Speaker 4: trick is not thinking about yourself as a teacher.
39:50
Speaker 6: Yeah, no, No, that's weird.
39:56
Speaker 2: I love teachers.
39:57
Speaker 4: I think they have the most wonderful job on the
39:59
Speaker 4: pl and we don't give them nearly enough, no credit
40:03
Speaker 4: and respect.
40:05
Speaker 2: So I just think the world of teachers very best.
40:08
Speaker 4: We are just about at the end of our conversation
40:11
Speaker 4: this day, which is a shame, because I would love
40:13
Speaker 4: to just keep listening to you and learning from you.
40:16
Speaker 4: Is there anything that you wished I would have asked
40:19
Speaker 4: you that I haven't asked you.
40:21
Speaker 5: M not that I can think of right now, not
40:26
Speaker 5: at all. As far as things that are coming up.
40:29
Speaker 5: My plate is full with family and my business and
40:36
Speaker 5: my volunteer time and then Global Youth Initiative. It's and
40:42
Speaker 5: you know your listeners might not, but you know that
40:47
Speaker 5: I absolutely love your book. Pass it on. And that's
40:54
Speaker 5: another thing. You know that that book means so much
40:57
Speaker 5: to me. There's there's just it just strikes my heart.
41:05
Speaker 5: It just hits my heart. And I think because I
41:09
Speaker 5: grew up in the South in that era, and I
41:14
Speaker 5: knew then when I was a little girl, I knew
41:18
Speaker 5: it was wrong, but I didn't know why. But I
41:23
Speaker 5: just knew it was wrong. When I'm in the department
41:27
Speaker 5: store when the water fountains were in two different places,
41:31
Speaker 5: I just didn't get it, and I just knew in
41:36
Speaker 5: my heart that it was it was, it was wrong.
41:41
Speaker 5: And so your book has just it's meant so much
41:44
Speaker 5: to me. I'll tell you what, Laurie. It's given me
41:46
Speaker 5: an opportunity to express what I just expressed to you
41:53
Speaker 5: to someone that I don't know, to be able to
41:58
Speaker 5: share the book with them, read the story to them,
42:03
Speaker 5: and then to be able to to just share how
42:08
Speaker 5: much it means to me and how import it I
42:11
Speaker 5: think it is. So I think, yeah, that's that's one
42:17
Speaker 5: thing before we haven't talked about. And I know that's
42:21
Speaker 5: about you and your bullet, but still it's it's our story. Yes,
42:26
Speaker 5: it is our story.
42:28
Speaker 2: It is Mary Bess. I'm really glad you brought it up.
42:31
Speaker 4: I did not want to bring it up because this
42:32
Speaker 4: is about you, and you know, I also just want
42:36
Speaker 4: to thank you because you have been such a powerful
42:40
Speaker 4: ambassador for this book and and you know, not only
42:45
Speaker 4: about the book, it's really about I'm hoping, you know,
42:49
Speaker 4: somebody listening will hear that it's our story. Is it
42:53
Speaker 4: is not my story? It is our story?
42:56
Speaker 3: Right, yes?
42:57
Speaker 4: And sometime we keep saying this, but sometimes you know,
43:03
Speaker 4: and maybe this podcast is a vehicle for it. I
43:05
Speaker 4: don't know we can talk about it, but I would
43:08
Speaker 4: love to just have a deeper conversation with you about.
43:10
Speaker 2: The our story.
43:11
Speaker 5: Piece of it is our story, yes.
43:14
Speaker 4: And this is a story that our nation and I'm
43:17
Speaker 4: going to say the world is involved in right now,
43:19
Speaker 4: right now in a way that we.
43:22
Speaker 2: Really have not been together in this conversation before. You
43:27
Speaker 2: know what I mean, and it's so important.
43:29
Speaker 4: So thanks for all that you do and all that
43:32
Speaker 4: you are, and thank you again for bringing it up.
43:35
Speaker 2: I appreciate it.
43:35
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, I'm glad that I did bring it up.
43:40
Speaker 5: It's interesting that I don't know that I've articulated it
43:43
Speaker 5: that way before even in my mind. Just stand by
43:49
Speaker 5: what I said about our story. But I'm just telling you, Gloria,
43:53
Speaker 5: I can just I'm five years old and I'm in
43:57
Speaker 5: the department store in Anderson South, and I'm looking up
44:01
Speaker 5: at that the two water fountains, one that says white
44:05
Speaker 5: and one that says colored, and I'm going, no, what, No,
44:11
Speaker 5: my neighbor. I play with my neighbor. Yes, she's a
44:16
Speaker 5: beautiful little brown skinned girl. I live out in the country.
44:21
Speaker 5: And so it is our story. Yeah it is.
44:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, all right, my friend. Well, thank you again.
44:31
Speaker 4: Thank you if you are and do, and thank you
44:34
Speaker 4: for just pouring life and you.
44:36
Speaker 2: Know, giving life giving words.
44:38
Speaker 4: You know, they're like oxygen for people, and we need
44:42
Speaker 4: we need that oxygen.
44:43
Speaker 5: I'm so I'm so grateful and I'm so humble to
44:47
Speaker 5: have been invited to just chat with you. Of course,
44:50
Speaker 5: you and I could talk till the cows came in.
44:53
Speaker 5: I know.
44:55
Speaker 2: We could.
44:59
Speaker 3: Mmm.
45:01
Speaker 1: So uplifting, so inspiring, so many pearls of wisdom. I
45:07
Speaker 1: feel so blessed to know Mary Best Johnson. Clearly she
45:12
Speaker 1: is a leader's leader. She makes a difference in her
45:16
Speaker 1: own life and in the lives of so many others,
45:19
Speaker 1: in her own family and throughout the world, in her
45:23
Speaker 1: work as a leader, as a certified John Maxwell coach,
45:27
Speaker 1: as a grandmother, and as a community servant. To learn
45:32
Speaker 1: more about Marybest and her work, you can go to
45:36
Speaker 1: her website, and that's www dot Marybest Johnson dot com.
45:43
Speaker 1: Www dot Marybest, m A R Y B E. S. S. Johnson,
45:50
Speaker 1: j O h N S O N dot com. Now,
45:55
Speaker 1: if you are just joining us, I'm doctor Gloria and
46:00
Speaker 1: this is Legacy Living. Make your Life Count. We just
46:05
Speaker 1: heard from my very special guest, Mary Bes Johnson, entrepreneur,
46:10
Speaker 1: JMT coach and inspiring community servant. If you want to
46:18
Speaker 1: make your life count, if you want to be the change,
46:21
Speaker 1: be the difference in your own life and in the
46:24
Speaker 1: lives of others, be sure to listen to this episode
46:28
Speaker 1: again and again. And hey, be sure to tell somebody
46:33
Speaker 1: you can find me right here on iTunes, Alexa, SoundCloud,
46:39
Speaker 1: Amazon Music, iHeart tune in, Amazonaudiblespreaker, dot Com, Talk Network Radio,
46:46
Speaker 1: and so many other places. I just love it. The
46:49
Speaker 1: list just keeps growing. Be sure to tune in again
46:52
Speaker 1: next week. Before I close today, I just want to
46:57
Speaker 1: give a shout out to all the men, women and children,
47:02
Speaker 1: all the young people around the world, because you know what,
47:05
Speaker 1: we are the ones, Yes, we are. We are the
47:10
Speaker 1: ones we have been waiting for.
47:12
Speaker 3: Now.
47:13
Speaker 1: What do I mean by that, Well, what I mean is,
47:16
Speaker 1: don't wait. Don't wait for somebody else to step up
47:20
Speaker 1: and make things happen, because guess what, they might not
47:24
Speaker 1: step up. In fact, they might not even know you're
47:27
Speaker 1: there waiting for them to do something for you.
47:31
Speaker 3: But you can be the one.
47:33
Speaker 1: In fact, can I just tell you something, You are
47:37
Speaker 1: the one. You are the one who can make a
47:41
Speaker 1: difference in your own life so that you make a
47:45
Speaker 1: difference in the lives of others. Now, remember, how you
47:50
Speaker 1: live is how you lead. How you live is how
47:54
Speaker 1: you do everything. Now, if you happen to miss any
47:59
Speaker 1: part of this week episode or last week's, you can
48:03
Speaker 1: simply download the recording and listen to it at your convenience.
48:07
Speaker 1: You can even listen to it on the go. Check
48:10
Speaker 1: us out at www dot talknetwork Radio dot com, Forward
48:18
Speaker 1: Slash Hosts, Forward Slash Legacy Living. Now that's a mouthful.
48:24
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say it again. Www Dot Talknetwork Radio dot com,
48:32
Speaker 1: Forward Slash Hosts, Forward Slash Legacy Living. You can learn
48:39
Speaker 1: more about my work and Legacy Living. Make your life
48:42
Speaker 1: count by visiting the Gloria Burgess website. And as I've
48:46
Speaker 1: mentioned before, if you love to be inspired, you can
48:50
Speaker 1: actually subscribe to my inspirations right on my website. Just
48:54
Speaker 1: scroll down a little bit look on the right sidebar
48:58
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49:00
Speaker 1: address to subscribe to my weekly inspirations. It's that simple.
49:06
Speaker 1: Each week you get a lovely photograph and a short
49:09
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49:13
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49:17
Speaker 1: me right here Facebook dot com, Forward slash Doctor Gloria Burgess,
49:23
Speaker 1: pH d. Okay dr for doctor Doctor Gloria Burgess, PhD.
49:31
Speaker 1: You can also find me on the TEDx site and
49:34
Speaker 1: listen to one of my ted talks. Just type in
49:36
Speaker 1: my name to find me there.
49:40
Speaker 3: Pretty simple.
49:41
Speaker 1: Right before I close today, thank you, for tuning in,
49:46
Speaker 1: for allowing me to share a bit about my journey
49:49
Speaker 1: with what legacy living is all about, not just living
49:53
Speaker 1: and learning, but living and learning and serving so that
49:57
Speaker 1: you make a difference in your own life and in
50:00
Speaker 1: the lives of others. It's about being on purpose every
50:05
Speaker 1: single day. Three sixty five twenty four to seven. Legacy
50:10
Speaker 1: living is a powerful way to make your life count.
50:17
Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you again for joining me for today's show.
50:21
Speaker 1: I'm your host, doctor Gloria Gloria Burgess, and this is
50:27
Speaker 1: Legacy Living. Make your life count. Please join me again
50:33
Speaker 1: next time for another episode of Legacy Living. Make your
50:39
Speaker 1: life count now. Remember, don't just count the days in
50:44
Speaker 1: your life. Make the days in your life count. That's
50:50
Speaker 1: what legacy living is all about. Have a fantastic day
50:55
Speaker 1: and remember now, make the days in your life count.
51:01
Speaker 3: God bless you. That's our show today.
51:16
Speaker 1: I'm your host, doctor Gloria Gloria Burgess. I hope you'll
51:22
Speaker 1: join me again next time. Until then, don't just count
51:27
Speaker 1: the days in your life. Make the days in your
51:30
Speaker 1: life count. That's what legacy living is all about. Here's
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Speaker 1: to you have a fantastic day and be sure to
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Speaker 1: make it a yes kind of day. Remember to celebrate
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Speaker 1: the music of your life.
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Speaker 3: Make the days in your life count